There are many types of personal hydration devices that allow a user to drink hands-free, while engaging in activities such as jogging, hiking, bicycling, or other forms of physical exercise. Historically, examples of these can be worn around the waist, or on the user's back. Other examples can be worn as a vest, or can be carried over the shoulder, or can be worn on the user's head.
In addition, some examples of personal hydration devices can be worn around the user's neck. For example, Janus et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,362 teaches a container for liquid that is secured all around a user's neck. However, the method of securing the container include straps and hook and loop fasteners, which can be difficult and time consuming to secure, and may restrict the user to wearing clothing that is compatible with the device. Also, the use of straps placed all around the neck can pose a safety risk, such as by strangulation caused by neck strap entanglement with nearby objects, for example. Also, Forsman et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,820,780 also teaches a neck supported fluid reservoir that has a rigid support extending all around the neck, which may pose a similar safety risk of strangulation.
Many devices are inconvenient to use because they require the use of complex harnesses or other inconvenient attachment methods. For example, Boxer et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,298 teaches a sport hydration system that requires a torso harness for mounting a liquid filled container.
Historically, several hydration devices have containers that are filled by the user, and then are re-used. The users of such devices may fill the hydration device in an unsanitary way, resulting in the consumption of unsanitary beverages. Or the user may fail to clean the hydration device after use, and then re-fill it with a sanitary liquid, thereby resulting in an unsanitary liquid. For example, Schillaci U.S. Pat. No. 6,581,811 B1 teaches a flexible wearable container that can be refilled by the user, and can therefore result in an unsanitary condition.